US gets its 1st air base in Syria

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As more and more imperialists pile on, the Syrian conflict is becoming the Spanish Civil War of the 21st century, and like that precursor to World War II, major powers are testing new military hardware and strategies on a people that dared to rebel, all while jockeying for position with each other in preparation for the wars to come.

The US led coalition has been bombing Syria for more than a year from bases within the region. Since the end of September, the Russian has been bombing Syria from the air base it established near Latakia in western Syria. Now we have reports that the United States is in the process of establishing its first air base at Rmelan airfield in the Kurdish control area of Hasakah in north-east Syria.

Four years of air assaults against alleged terrorists by the Assad regime have bleed a conflict that has resulted in more than a quarter million dead and 12 million made homeless, millions of them refugees forced to flee Syria. In the summer of 2014, the US led anti-ISIS bombing campaign was expanded to Syria. This fall, Putin sent his air force to Syria. Like everyone else bombing Syria, he claimed to be only targeting "terrorists", but it soon became clear that it was Assad's revolutionary opposition, including the Free Syrian Army, that the Russians had in their cross-hairs. The Russians have also gone after civilian targets and so greatly increased the civilian causalities. Although they have carried out over 6,000 air strikes and used mainly dumb bombs, the Russians boldly claim they haven't killed a single Syrian civilian. Syrian Observatory for Human Rights says they have killed 1,015. Now comes the first American air base. It too is suppose to be targeting Daesh.

The truth is that none of these imperialist actors want to see a free Syria, a Syria in which the people's revolution was triumph. From their point of view, that would be the worst possible outcome. From their point of view, Assad's brutality and criminal methods aren't such a big problem, and a balkanized and weaken Syria is okay, but a united and truly democratically Syria will not be tolerated. So while they all claim to be fighting ISIS they are also struggling the shape the future of Syria outside of the control of Syrians. That's why there were no Syrians at the Vienna "peace" conference

The ISIS they claim to be fighting is itself a counter-revolution of their own creation. There was no Al Qaeda in Iraq before the US invasion. The Sunni/Shia contradictions the US employed to control the country fueled the sectarian split that cause many Iraq Sunni's to support the radical jihadists, while the 300,000 man Iraq army the US "let go" assured them of a more than adequate supply of men with military training in need of employment. While the US invasion of Iraq laid the groundwork for Daesh, it was the conscious policy of the Assad regime to create this monster as alleged "greater of two evils" that is suppose to make the world accept a continuation of the brutal regime rule that provoked the fight for freedom in the first place. So Assad let their leaders out of jail, even sent criminals to join them. Sent intelligence officers to help them form up, bought their oil and gave them safe haven on Raqqa, after Daesh took the provincial capital away from the revolutionary forces.

US troops have taken control of Rmeilan airfield in Hasakah

Al Jazeera is reporting on what is probably the newest American military base anywhere:

US 'takes control' of Rmeilan airfield in Syria
Under a deal with Kurdish group, activists say US will use airfield to support fighters against ISIL in northern Syria.
Diana Al Rifai
20 Jan 2016

US troops have taken control of Rmeilan airfield in Syria's northern province of Hasakah to support Kurdish fighters against the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), a spokesperson for the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) told Al Jazeera.

The airfield near the city of Rmeilan, which will become the first US-controlled airbase in Syria, was previously controlled by the US-backed Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG).

The airfield is close to Syria's borders with Iraq and Turkey.
ISIL in Syria confronted by new alliance of opposition groups

"Under a deal with the YPG, the US was given control of the airport. The purpose of this deal is to back up the SDF, by providing weapons and an airbase for US warplanes," Taj Kordsh, a media activist from the SDF told Al Jazeera on Tuesday.

"This airport was previously controlled by the YPG for over two years now. This strategic airport is close to several oil bases - one of the biggest in this area.

"Rmeilan airport was previously used for agricultural purposes by the Syrian government," he said.

Previous reports published by the Syrian Local Coordination Committees say that the US has been preparing and expanding Rmeilan airport for a while now.

When asked by Al Jazeera, a US CENTCOM media operations officer did not confirm or deny the reports. More...

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